Netherlands Antilles Genealogy
Guide to Netherlands Antilles ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.
Information[edit | edit source]
The Netherlands Antilles (The Nederlandse Antillen) was a former autonomous part of Netherlands, consisting of the West Indies islands of Curaçao, Bonaire, and formerly Aruba—all off the north coast of Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea—and Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten (part French)—east of the US Virgin Islands.[1][2]
Sint Maarten/Saint Martin. The northern 60% of the island of Sint Maarten/Saint Martin is called Saint Martin and is a part of the French Antilles (of France). The southern 40% of the island of Sint Maarten was formerly part of the Netherlands Antilles, since 2010 a constituent country of the Netherlands.[3]
Netherlands Antilles Clickable Map[edit | edit source]
Genealogy records are kept on the local level in The Netherlands Antilles. Click on a place below to go to the corresponding Wiki article listing more information.
Jurisdictions[edit | edit source]
Genealogy records are kept on the local level in The Netherlands Antilles. Click on a place below to go to the corresponding Wiki article listing more information.
See also:
Research Tips and Strategies[edit | edit source]
Resources[edit | edit source]
Religious Records[edit | edit source]
Background[edit | edit source]
Cultural Groups[edit | edit source]
A large part of the Netherlands Antilleans descends from European colonists and African slaves that were brought and traded here from the 17th to 19th century. The rest of the population originates from other Caribbean islands, Latin America, East Asia and elsewhere in the world. This is of interest for those who do genealogical research.
History[edit | edit source]
The Spanish took possession of Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba, known as the Leeward group, in 1527. In 1634 the three islands passed to the Netherlands with which they have remained except for two short periods during the Napoleonic Wars when the British ruled at Willemstad. Curaçao, the center of Caribbean slave trade during the colonial period, lost much of its economic importance after emancipation of the slaves in 1863. In 1986 Aruba was constitutionally separated from the Netherlands Antilles.
The Winward group, Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius, and Saba, also considered a part of the Netherlands Antilles, changed hands often during the 17th and 18th centuries. All three have been under uninterrupted Dutch rule since the beginning of the 19th century. As of 1954, the Netherlands Antilles is considered to be an autonomous part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Languages[edit | edit source]
The Papiamentu language is predominant on Curaçao and Bonaire (as well as the neighboring island of Aruba). This creole descends from Portuguese and West African languages with a strong admixture of Dutch, plus subsequent lexical contributions from Spanish and English.
After a decades-long debate, English and Papiamentu have been made official languages alongside Dutch in early March 2007. Legislation is produced in Dutch but parliamentary debate is in Papiamentu or English, depending on the island. Due to the islands' closeness to South America, Spanish is becoming increasingly known and used throughout the archipelago. Vital records are also kept in Dutch.
For word lists and help researching in Netherlands Antilles records, see:
Social Life and Customs[edit | edit source]
| Topic | Time period | Resource | Locations Covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social life and customs | Roney, John B. Culture and Customs of the Netherlands. Greenwood Publishing, 2009 | Netherlands Antilles | |
| Social life and customs | van Venlo, Paul. Sambumbu: volkskunde van Curaçao, Aruba en Bonaire. Amsterdam: Carib Publishing, 2017 | Netherlands Antilles | |
| Marriage customs | Juliana, Elis. Matrimonio i parto. [Willemstad]: Institute of Archeology, 1988 | Netherlands Antilles | |
| Social life and customs | van Venlo, Paul. Zjozjolí: gegevens over de volkskunde van Curac̜ao, Aruba en Bonaire. [Curac̦ao]: P. Brenneker, 1986 | Netherlands Antilles | |
| Social life and customs | van Venlo, Paul. Zjozjoli: volkskunde van Curação, Aruba en Bonaire. [Curação?]: [P. Brenneker], 1986 | Netherlands Antilles | |
| Social life and customs | Faraclas, Nicholas Gregory. Leeward voices: fresh perspectives on Papiamentu and the literatures and cultures of the ABC islands. Curaçao : FPI, UNA, 2009 | Netherlands Antilles | |
| Social life and customs | Gerritsen, Guus; Roozendaal, Henk. Portraits of Bonaire. Snoeck-Ducaju & Doon, 2002 | Netherlands Antilles |
Societies[edit | edit source]
No family history, nor genealogy societies could be found for the Netherlands Antilles.
Ancestry.com has message boards for the Netherlands Antilles.
Link: https://www.ancestry.com/boards/localities.caribbean.nethantilles/mb.ashx
Historical Societies[edit | edit source]
Barbados Museum and Historical Society also covers the Netherlands Antilles.
Address: Dalkeith Rd
Bridgetown
Barbados
Telephone: +1 246-538-0201
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbados_Museum_%26_Historical_Society
Het Curacaosch Museum in Willemstad is an excellent source of history for the Netherlands Antilles.
Address:
Van Leeuwenhoekstraat z/n
Mundo Nobo, Curaçao
Telephone: +599 9 462 3873
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Community-Museum/Het-Curacaosch-Museum-176502892404267/
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Netherlands Antilles," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands_Antilles (accessed 21 July 2015).
- ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Netherlands_Antilles (accessed 21 July 2015).
- ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Sint Maarten," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint_Maarten (accessed 21 July 2015).